Chapter 183


    The house is huge and beautiful like some sort of movie set for the lifestyle of the rich and famous. A


    towering white mansion set in a beautiful green manicured garden like some modern painting. Set in


    the sunny Hamptons, near the coast in a very picturesque area thatprises of nothing but huge


    grand houses, that just spew wealth. I can see why the Carreros reign supreme here. It’s like the real


    housewives of Orange County.


    Their home a show house for sure,pletely devoid of lived in family life and we are let in by a maid


    who ushers us into a sitting room in what appears to be a deserted house until she runs off to find our


    host. Marble entranceway not dissimr to that of Alexi’s nearby abode, huge sweeping staircase in a


    wless neutral palette. It’s glossy magazine worthy with massive professional vases of floral


    arrangements dotted at key points on expensive furniture around the edges of the room.


    I find it odd that Alexi is being treated like a guest rather than a family member, left standing here to


    await his mother, but I keep my mouth shut as I watch him pace the floor, clearly unsettled in these


    surroundings. Not wanting to point out the obvious and hurt him more than he has been under this roof


    already. This must hold a million memories from him that leaves a sour taste in his mouth.


    He seems like a fish out of water in this house and I really do not connect him to the calm white and


    neutral tone décor, or the pristine almost museum-like settings. It doesn’t seem child-friendly or even


    family orientated and is more like a five-star hotel than somewhere weing.


    He seems restless and closed off already, walking away from me to give himself some much-needed


    space and I know not to take it personally. He’s battling his own inner demons and I just give him a


    warm, supportive smile when his eye catches mine. A storm in those eyes for all the world to see, the


    only hint that he experiences a depth of emotion below that smooth exterior. My heart aches for him


    and I feel powerless to make him better. A knot forming in my gut and throat simultaneously and I just


    will this to be over fast.


    This is not a family home, it’s a show-off pad to impress visitors andcks any sort of warmth. It’s not


    my cup of tea at all and I instantly long for Alexi’s apartment back home in the city. It’s cosy urban chic


    and has a sentimental collection of things hidden around the walls, out of in sight. He has more


    character and love in his home than this ce does, and I can see why he always felt like an outsider.


    The house feels cold and sterile much like the woman I see in the pictures on the walls. Staring down


    at us with superiority from an array of family portraits that allck my grey eyed Adonis.


    Fucking bitch!


    “Alessandro.” A heavy, husky ented voice trails towards us from the open door which surprises me


    as I never thought of his mother having anything other than a New York dialect. It’s obvious she’s a


    native Sicilian and now makes sense why he spent most of his childhood there and why Alexi has a


    hint of a genuine Italian mixed with his, but this is a shock, to say the least. It’s so strong it’s almost


    hard to pick out her English. It does have a seductive quality I guess, but I prefer Alexi’s mixed dialect


    over hers.


    A small elegant woman follows through behind her greeting, bleached blonde hair expertly coiffed into


    a French roll on the back of her head and dressed impably in tailored, wide leg tan trousers and a


    cream silk blouse that moulds to a small petite frame with plenty of curves. She looks too young to


    have sons Alexi’s age and on closer inspection, I can see she is well groomed with attention to details.


    Much like her son. Nothing out of ce at all.


    A fan of Botox and such no doubt, and her body suggests she is a gym junkie. Hardly the picture of


    motherhood I was envisioning from the faded pictures in Alexi’s bolthole. None of them had been


    recent of his mother, but she looks pretty much the same with an air of stic face. Her demeanour is


    poised, precise to the extent where I would have envied her only a short time ago but now, I realise


    how much I have changed. I dislike her on sight, beyond what I know of her. She exudes something


    hostile, even while smiling and acting like she is pleased to see him.


    She crosses to him, takes his hand and air kisses him dramatically on both cheeks before patting him


    on the shoulder as though he is a puppy dog. Alexi leans in to amodate her smaller height, eyes


    not meeting hers properly and he seems stiff andpletely nk. I can tell he has withdrawn well


    inside his head and mask and I hate seeing him his way. The whole thing seems very fake andcks


    any real affection and love. He’s ying the part of an obedient and adoring son, and she in no way


    deserves the respect.


    “Mother. You look stunning as always.” Alexi kisses her properly on one cheek and she stands like a


    statue, almost as though she is enduring his tenderness rather than enjoying it and I instantly hate her


    more. Despising the very presence of the cow. Dismissing him as if he’s worthless, like his love is


    something to pass off, and I swallow down a verbal remark, biting hard on my lip before it shoots out.


    Anger rearing its ugly head like a volcano about to blow itsva pit.


    She has his coldness in droves, his controlled manner and standoffish demeanour when you don’t


    know him very well. I can see exactly where his traitse from so it’s even more mind-boggling to


    know she rejected him because of most of them. I guess Alexi didn’t fall far from the tree, and she


    hated having an image of her to point out all her ws in such a visual way. She rejected him so people


    wouldn’t see through her own mask of hiding so many imperfections. Too much in her image to pass off


    as a troubled child, so she kept him away from her so no one would make the connection.


    Prick.


    “Mother, I would like to introduce you to someone important to me. This is Cami.” Alexi nods towards


    me, his face instantly softening when we lock eyes and the adoration reappears to bring me into the


    fold. My temper simmers as I bask in that look that is only for me, and I step forward extending a


    practised hand with a fake, overly friendly smile and adopt my most alluring tone. I was always good at


    pretend y, and I can wear it like a second skin.


    “Pleasure.” I hold it out mid-air and she just eyeballs it like it’s a dirty rag and I’m somehow offending


    her by brandishing it her way. Her focus sweeping my sharp acrylic talons painted in harlot red, and I


    can almost see the distaste rising in her throat. Her eyes narrow, she swallows hard and I get nothing


    but a cool re.


    “What happened to thest girlfriend? She was … sweet.” She motions my way with a hand flick but


    doesn’t look at me directly, turning usingly to her son with a scowl. Her tone polite, scathing with her


    words and I baulk at just how rude she is. Ignorant as fuck, and who brings up thest girl when in the


    presence of a current one.


    Jesus Christ!!


    Seriously, I already want to stab her in the eyes with my nails.


    She has me fuming as my blood bubbles in my veins and heat rises to my cheeks to signal my fury.


    Taken aback by the question, I just hold myself up and gawp stupendously. Alexi’s face drops to that


    familiar sadistic scowl that makes his brows almost meet in the middle and his eyelids lower on those


    glinting eyes.


    “Jesus Christ, Mother. Clearly not with me.” Alexi hesitates from adding more to that sentence, curbing


    the tremor of temper I see flick across his face as he tries not to react the way I know he normally


    would. Those eyes darkening and that tense muscle in his jaw bes prominent once more.


    “Again … Cami, my significant other. It would be nice if you said hello,” he says through gritted teeth


    with a snarl hiding in the depths of his tone. Swirling with rage and trying to grip onto a modicum of


    calm out of respect and misced love for this cranky woman. I can see why he avoidsing here.


    All content is ? N0velDrama.Org.


    I remain unmoved, face a mask of amusement as though she made some vague joke and I continue


    smiling warmly, hand still in goddamn mid-air. I refuse to back down and be scorned by this half pint


    with shit fashion sense and ame manicure.


    He ushers her towards me briskly, obviously annoyed, by cing a hand on her back, and as her eyes


    sweep over me that face tightens to hide her reaction to mepletely—very Alexi-esque. Seems


    closing down and hiding everything from the world is a learned trait or one passed down in his DNA,


    anyway.


    Her gaze settles on my hair first, eyebrow twitching in distaste, and then my dress and shoes in a very


    slow dissection as she mentally sums up my character on first impressions. Her eyes are all that


    betrays her disapproval, and she again ignores my gesture and crosses her arms neatly across her


    abdomen to make it clear she′s not going to ept a handshake. I drop it, try not to seethe out some


    cuss words in her face and just give her that knowing bitchy look.


    I see you for what you are.


    I can almost taste how much she dislikes me.


    “Lovely to finally meet you. I have heard so much about you.”


    All bloody awful!


    I purr, not intimidated at all and flick away my hand boldly, not letting her ice me out and try to humiliate


    me. Alexi was right. She has met her match in me, and she has no idea what kind of pussycat she is


    dealing with. I’m way more feral than some purring littlep friend. I will w her goddamn eyes out of


    her skull. My hackles are rising, my spine stiffening and that cold edge to my tone moved right on in of


    its own ord.


    Her eyes widen as I speak, this time clearly taking real note of my ent and that little head cock


    before she shes a dark look at Alexi and mutters something in Italian for his ears only. Judging by the


    tone, I don’t think it’s apliment.


    Alexi’s face goes from calm control to an instant growling frown, a flush of colour on his cheekbones,


    signalling insta-rage, jaw tightening in one swift move. His whole posture instantly goes rigid and he


    seems to grow an inch taller.


    “She’s English and so fucking what?” He snaps at her and earns himself a haughty reply, yet again in


    Italian which only seems to make him worse. She almost hisses at him and he turns to her to lock


    those soulless eyes dead on her, no hint of backing down at all. She stands tall to meet his superior


    height and raises her voice, something foreign that I totally miss but it sounds like a put-down.


    It seems to momentarily put him in his ce, and he looks away from the bitch to across the hall,


    grinding his teeth, flexing those jaw muscles and looking mighty pissed to boot. I wonder what she said


    to him, or what disappointment in him she threw his way to wound him. I can see my little lost boy


    peeking out and I’ll bet your bottom dor she just reminded him how awful a son he has been all these


    years.


    I tremble with a furying from so low down I swear it seems toe from the depths of hell and


    filters up my body, dragging a burning heat that could melt steel. Face tightening and hands balling into


    fists. She has no idea how protective of him I am, and she is pushing all my psycho buttons.


    I stay very still and act like I have no idea what’s going on. I want to explode at her and spray her with


    all thates with it. This is going so much worse than I thought it would.


    “I was actually born in Texas, so not British through and through.” I jest lightly, scrambling for something


    to say as I try to bring Alexi’s eyes back to me, sounding sickly sweet and trying to dismiss the hostility


    to regain control for him.


    She turns on me, all hoity-toity and superior, and hits me with that matronly foul look that scary mothers


    can pull off when kids misbehave.


    I waiver under the woman’s dark scrutiny, so like my mother’s from way back and beyond, and hate


    that it affects me. She just mumbles something elsepletely incoherent to me while poking me dead


    in the eye with her gaze.


    Alexi lets out a weird littleugh, oozing hostility and sarcasm, and I can almost count down the


    seconds to the explosion. I can sense it building in him, and whatever she is saying he isn’t ying


    nice as she expects him to. She’s pushing his buttons with whatever she said, and we should all just


    leave him alone now. It’s that snarly sadistic chuckle that signals ‘I’m going to fuck you up’.


    “She doesn’t speak Italian so at least have the backbone to speak English, so she knows what insults


    you’re throwing around about her! And for the record, you don’t know shit about her so how about you


    shut the fuck up and leave her alone.” He loses his temperpletely, that snap and brusque tone


    making both me and her flinch simultaneously.


    He knows he’s losing his control and I see him physically repent, turning to storm off away from her and


    towards the drinks cab in the corner off to the left. He knows he needs to reel in his shit and he’s


    searching for alcohol to take the edge off his spiralling temper. Chastising himself for disrespecting this


    awful woman.


    I follow him feebly to get the hell away from this rude arsehole before I say something I regret and


    agree a drink would be good about now. I walk at a pace to match his and try to edge his way before


    she follows at speed.


    I literally will her to go the fuck away before he really snaps, and I have to deal with the fallout. Alexi in


    a bad mood is headache worthy.


    “How dare you speak to me like that Alessandro; I’m your mother and you will not behave in such a


    manner under my roof. Show me some goddamn respect! I raised you better than this!” She matches


    his tone and level perfectly and for a second, I can see exactly where that temper and intimidating,


    growly, husky tonees from. Alexi may look like his father but that cold side and sadistic bastard


    personality is all her. It runs deep as hell.


    The woman is clearly a narcissist on some level and Alexi was the child she singled out to me his


    entire life.


    Who is she trying to kid when she talks about raising him?


    He seems to try his best to ignore her, pouring liquor from the first ss bottle into a tumbler and nods


    to me offering one. I shake my head, despite wanting one, as I know I might just let rip if I have a drink


    right now.


    “How about you stop insulting my wife and we won’t have a fucking problem.” He throws a look over his


    shoulder at her, yelling it loudly, straight at her face, and even as the words leave his mouth, I see the


    instant regret in his eyes. Impulsive words that he didn’t want toe out this way.


    The horror in my belly that he just blurted it out like that, while she’s on an anti-Cami rampage, and


    well, the absolutely mortified expression on her face seals my fate.


    It’s like a lead balloon being dropped on a ss floor in a silent room. The gasp from her and the


    shocked wide-eyed ‘Alessandro!’ before he clicks what he just said and throws me a little look of ‘shit’.


    It wasn’t what he wanted, and now it’s just fuelled the hatred she has brewed for this wicked jezebel


    standing in her hall. I have defiled her son''s good name just by being linked to him. Hell, she probably


    thinks the name Carrero is now cursed, used goods for all time.


    “Your what?!?!?” she erupts loudly so it echoes in this vast room; losing her cool, she storms at him to


    grab his elbow and yanks him to look at her. She hasn’t got the strength to really move him but the


    spew of toxic Italian that follows her manoeuvre gets him spinning on her of his own volition. I step


    back against a nearby couch to steady myself, legs turning to jelly with this turn for the worst and I try


    to inhale slowly to keep my cool.


    ‘My wife! Yes, Mama, I married her … in Vegas. It’s a done deal, so say hi to your new daughter-inw.’


    Alexi has given up trying to keep his shit together, and the appearance of that cold and terrifying


    persona that sends shivers through me snarls the words her way. She doesn’t even blink an eye,


    instead, she also takes on that weird evil re, the insanely intimidating stance of someone rallying


    themselves for a fight.


    “I’m disgusted that you would cheapen our family name by marrying amon slut on a whim, most


    likely high on drugs and booze while pissing your life away. You never change! You just drag us down


    in any way you can, and now you have outdone yourself!”


    There is real hatred in her tone and despite his anger and furious expression, I catch the hurt in his


    eyes. The tiny bite of her words and the dip of his brow as he swallows what must be a familiar


    statement thrown at him.


    “Don’t you fucking dare! You don’t know her or anything about how we are together. I won’t let you talk


    about her like that. I didn’te here for your approval. I came to tell my father, and I would appreciate


    if you let me do that. We can leave and forego your cosy lunch if you prefer. I don’t give a shit. I came


    to see him, not you, and now you know.” Alexi is simmering all his rage, trying to control it, and I can


    practically see the haze of fiery heat emanating from his poised and stiff stance. She squares up to


    him,pletely unfazed by the hulking great mass of aggressive testosterone in front of her, and I


    wonder if she really is oblivious to the fact, he kills men with his bare hands. I wouldn’t be so quick to


    get all up in his face if I were her, especially not bad-mouthing me to shit. He has killed for me. I


    swallow loudly, gripping the chair in sheer terror as anxiety spreads through my limbs, rooting me to the


    spot, and I forget to breathe.


    “How could you do this? I can see what she is. A gold-digging whore with a fake ent and a tight grip


    on your bank bnce. Look at her. Where did you find her? A strip club, Alessandro? She ismon


    and obviously used to wrapping men around her finger for all she can get. How could you be so stupid?


    You are not a na?ve boy, why would you lower yourself to marrying someone so unworthy? A woman of


    the night, painted red for the world to see.” That nasty toxic tone dissolves into pathetic crocodile tears


    as she pulls on the victim act, and I can see exactly what she is doing. Turning the tables on him


    because her anger isn’t getting her the result she wants from him. I know this act all too well because


    I’m fucking epic at it and can manipte on a whim. She’s doing exactly that, ripping out his feet from


    under him to reduce him to a remorseful mess.


    Alexi’s temper dies a death and the look of shame and guilt sweeps over him instantly.


    I guess I know where he gets his ability to manipte people from too.


    I can imagine what kind of mother she was to this little boy growing up. A viper tongue with a million


    insults for a child she could not control, and then the heavy emotional ckmail and usations when


    she couldn’t get him to toe the line. He rebelled, he yed up and chose his own way in the world and


    no doubt met this wrath with every step he took. Either by viciousness or tears, she manipted him


    and made him feel worthless, just as she is doing now.


    That’s enough for me. And I can’t take this anymore. Something inside of me snaps at the sight of her


    trying to reduce him to this mess. I won’t let some bitch twist my Lexi’s head and heart this way.


    He’s mine now and you do not fucking hurt him in any way!


    “Actually, it was a gutter downtown after a bunch of thugs beat me up for a drug debt I bumped. I’m an


    ex-hooker, luv, and I fucked men for money, not married them. I had my own little operation going


    before this one bailed me out of the shit storm and gave me a job in his sex club. Saved my arse and


    well, I fell for him hook line and sinker. As for the ent, it’s genuine, sort of. I’m a Londoner, but yeah,


    common as theye, and grew up begging for scraps and screwing men from a very young age. You


    were close though, so half a gold star for that. As for his bank bnce, well, I don’t really need it


    considering he gave me the club, and it turns over a nice little profit with all the rich suits whoe to


    cheat on their wives from your neck of the woods. Oh, I’ve met your husband, by the way, he seemed


    nice when he popped in.” I raise a catty brow, tone dripping with disdain as I pull myself up and lift that


    defiant chin, fixing a blue hostile re right on her face. I watch her go from rosy fake despair to ghost


    white, shocked stupid, and then the beetroot puce of filthy rage in the space of thirty seconds t.


    Hand on my hip and a cocky smirk on my face as I count the seconds it takes for her head to explode.


    If she is anything like her son, then it won’t be long, and I smirk as I rx into an obvious ‘fuck you’


    pose. Alexi turns and looks at me, mouth slightly agape because I obviously cut him off before another


    snarling rant, and shocked that I just said what I said to his mother, of all people. I throw him an


    apologetic ‘she made me do it’ shrug and try for a smile to meet his stone-faced expression.


    If I can handle him, then I sure as hell can handle her, stuck-up psycho bitchface.


    “What the …? Oh, my God. That’s …” She stammers with so much seething anger she can’t get the


    words out, stuttering, forgetting she was whimpering and trying to guilt him into submission, and then


    lets rip. Broken Italian follows in a great gush of words aimed his way as she rants and stomps in a


    circle waving her hands and arms in the air in an overly dramatic gesture. A whoosh of incoherence.


    Alexi just turns and downs another drink as though he doesn’t know what else to do, facepletely


    deadpan, and he seems to just shut up shop and go on an instant vacation.


    That’s not a good sign. He’s trying to control whatever is about to burst out of him.


    I don’t know if he too is about to go nuclear because my mouth and I just can’t help themselves, or


    whether he is wishing he would just fall down a very deep hole in the next three seconds. Either way,


    Alexi is also brimming on an all-out explosion and I’m not one hundred percent sure which of us it will


    be aimed at. He closes up tight, like that little dark enigma he can be, and we get nothing at all of what


    he is feeling now as he manically starts downing shots. It’s a weighty, sudden pause where all the


    oxygen is sucked out of the room and I instantly feel faint. The crackle of tension electrifies the room,


    and it bes so heavy the atmosphere begins to crush me.


    If she is the one he gets his worst side from, then being stuck in the middle of two of the them in this


    kind of epic outburst is not my idea of a great ce to hang out. The fallout might kill me identally.


    “You have to divorce her! I WILL NOT have this kind of filth in MY family. Do you hear me, Alessandro?


    I will not let you continue to shame me in this way!! I have been through enough at your hands and I


    won’t allow this to continue. You dissolve this marriage right now!” She screams it at his back, and he


    tenses so visibly I tense too and hold my breath as I wait for the first strike of Armageddon to befall this


    room. I don’t know if it’s static in the air from all the friction or Alexi himself that makes the sizzling


    noise, but an overcharged current seems to zap me, and I shiver with it. Recoiling inside myself too.


    I don’t know what to do beyond my smart-mouthed retort and I am now literally at a loss. Trembling in


    my shoes and watching him like a hawk, knowing that some form of retaliation wille once he stops


    downing straight vodka. He downs another and I pray internally. Really worried that he is verging on


    some sort of selfbustion.


    “No, he will not!” The loudmanding bark makes me and her jump a mile high in unison as a tall,


    familiar figure storms in and ms the front door shut behind him. The noise echoing harshly in the hall


    and travels towards us, probably alerting the entire household of drama. A look ofplete rage


    crossing that normally peaceful face, and Alexi’s father storms through to this room and towers over his


    wife as he res her back into submission. Shepletely crumbles into a small, feeble act as though


    he somehow didn’t catch her being an utter prize bitch. It’s clear who wears the trousers in this


    rtionship.


    “Our son has chosen a wife, a woman he loves, who is willing to love him unconditionally. I was rooting


    for them for months and this is how you treat our daughter-inw on the first meeting? If anyone should


    be ashamed, it is I with the conduct of my wife. Go upstairs and bring some sense to yourself, woman! I


    won’t have this anymore.” It’s a thundering, humiliatingmand and now I’m over here wondering if


    Alexi really had any chance at all. Commander and chief and scary as shit side clearly came from


    Daddy, and cold, cruel and sadistic arsehole came from Mummy. He really had zero chance of doing


    well in the lucky dip gene pool when added to the ADHD thing.


    He is one hundred and fifty percent the product of his parents, and as he finally seems toe back


    into the battle with a look that tells me nothing much at all, his mother whimpers that pathetic snivelling


    drivel once more. I guess the little broken girl act is meant to make her menfolk back off and


    mollycoddle her. It’s actually quite pathetic, and I can see why tears had no effect on him that time I


    was breaking my heart at his feet. She uses them as much as she uses her coldness and made him


    immune.